Gender Identities and Technology

I found last weeks lecture and last weeks reading to be really interesting. The theme I found particularly interesting was the idea that gender identities change over time and what it means to be a women in the 1950s, is not what it means to be a women now. Both the reading and the lecture talked about cosmetic surgery and how women now days will have apparent flaws. Cosmetic surgery also fits in nicely with the technological aspect of the course. Although it may not be new media, it certainly did not exist 20 odd years ago. With the introduction of it, more emphasis has been placed on the way a woman looks. Instead of women being happy to accept what they were born with, technology has now meant that surgeons have the ability to play “god”, (if you want to use such a cliché saying) and turn them into something that they were original not.
The example used in the lecture “The Swan” was perfect because the whole show was about how these women were not good enough for society the way they were and thus they needed to become beautiful. It also brings in the concept of feminism and the male dominated society. “The Swan” never had male’s participants and it emphasis the idea that was held in the 1950s, women were meant to be seen not heard.
So in fact maybe what it means to be a woman has not changed over time?